BUENOS AYRES. 



87 



she sunk up to her ankles in a pantana ; so we 

 declined proceeding any further, and returned 

 to the only place where walking is practicable — 

 the garden of the quinta. After this Captain 

 H. and myself mounted on two hired horses, 

 and galloped on the sands till dinner-time. 



November 2. — I went to-day with several of 

 the officers to see the most disgusting of all 

 sights — the slaughtering of oxen for the 

 market. Hogarth's picture of the last stages 

 of cruelty does not surpass this spectacle. 

 When I rode to the ground, the intended 

 victims were all collected in a large coral. 

 This is a circular inclosure of tall, thick stakes, 

 driven into the ground. The cattle had been 

 brought in from the plains ; and we observed 

 many gaucho butchers from the town, as wild 

 looking as their brethren from the country, all 

 mounted and assembled in a knot, in the heat 



